Has anyone here found the need for the hood? it seems kind of useless... is there a hood from another lens that might work/function here?

And how about a carrying/protective case? Do most of you just stick this in your bag, or is there a need for some kind of pearstone/case etc?

No point in the hood, at all. I worked out the geometry some time back, and the dedicated hood for the 40/2.8 doesn't actually provide any optical benefit, from what I can tell. It's too shallow to protect even a 14mm prime from flare. Since it screws onto the extending front element, 'protection' is questionable, too.

The ES-62 hood (for the 50/1. with it's 52mm threaded adapter will fit on the 40/2.8. It's much deeper, and reportedly doesn't vignette, but would likely provide some flare protection.

The 40/2.8 fits nicely in a Lowepro 8x6 case, but I just put it in my bag or more often, my pocket.

Thx for the advice, as always, Neuro.I ordered my shorty 40 with ES-62 hood; skipped the case for now.

I picked up the 40mm the last day it was $150 at Best Buy, figuring that I could always return it if I found no use for it. I only finally got around to using it a few days ago, the return period already behind me. Fortunately, I'm thrilled with it:

1/4000s | f/9 | ISO400 | 40mm

1/125s | f11 | ISO500 | 40mm

My shoulder bag gets pretty hefty with the 70-200 f4L, 100mm f2.8L, and 24-105mm. The 40mm just replaced the 24-105mm, and I stitched panoramas out of 40mm shots when I wanted really wide shots (having moved to full frame really makes this more viable):

Do new 40mm lenses come with the latest firmware? (I am guessing they do, but haven't found a source to back this up). If so, what number should I look for in the serial number to be sure the lens has the update? Thanks.

I'm liking this lens more and more. I think it's a more versatile standard lens than the 50mm because the focal length is very 'correct' for FF - the diagonal of FF is 43mm - and the slightly wider angle of view is useful.

In fact I think this will virtually replace my 50mm, I never used that lens below f2 anyway, and the build of the 40 - what there is of it - is much better than the 50 1.4

I agree. Infact I did not buy the 50mm lens with my 5D3 as the 50L was expensive and I did not want to get the 1.8 or 1.4. With the 40mm now I don't think I will get a 50mm lens unless I save up for the 50L and have already got the 24-70 2.8 and the 70-200 2.8 and a sharper looooooong lens...

My Pancake turned up the other day. I noticed that it still had the old firmware, and therefore I needed to update to version 1.20.The update failed numerous times, and I needed to unregister the battery, in order to get the update to install.All good now though...